If you only make one improvement to your diet this year, I hope it is to replace refined sugar with raw food sweeteners. If you do, I can guarantee you that smoother digestion, more relaxed muscles, more peaceful emotions and increased mental clarity are soon to follow.

Before looking at the negative health consequences of eating refined sugar, let’s have a quick look at how it’s made. This will give you some insight into why it affects the body the way it does. The majority of sugar comes from sugar cane (Saccharum spp.) which is a dense tall grass that grows in tropical regions. The juice from sugar cane is traditionally used as a sweetener from India to the Caribbean. And, interestingly, raw sugar cane juice is pretty good for you, being alkalizing and relatively low on the glycemic index.

But in the 1500s manufacturers began refining sugar cane so that it could be more easily transported overseas, especially back to Europe. Over the years, the process has become increasingly complex and dependent on chemicals. Here is what happens between cutting sugar cane in the fields and delivering refined sugar to your local store.

After harvest, machines at a sugar mill wash, cut, shred and press the juice out of the cane stalks. This liquid is then heated to boiling and treated with chemical solvents to remove impurities. Then it is moved to huge tanks and heated again to evaporate the water content. This leaves a thick syrup that is placed in a centrifuge machine to form the syrup into crystals.

These crystals are then transported to a sugar refinery where they are heated to boiling again, treated with bleach and other chemicals and then filtered through bone char, which is a powder made from cow or pig bones. After filtering, the syrup is then centrifuged again to produce refined white sugar. Brown sugar is created by adding molasses before putting it in the centrifuge. Given the fact that it’s heated to boiling at least three times, treated with chemicals, filtered through bone powder and forced to crystallize, it’s no wonder that refined sugar has literally had the life force beaten out of it.

Refined sugar, white or brown, literally has zero nutritional value – no minerals, no vitamins, no fiber, no enzymes, no fats - nothing of value for the body. Instead it’s toxic to the body. You can live longer on pure water alone, than on water mixed with sugar.

Here is what refined sugar does in the body:

It produces an acidic condition in the digestive system. This drains the body of vitamins and minerals and the consequences can be life threatening. For example the metabolism of sugar requires leaches calcium from the bones and teeth which can lead to tooth decay or osteoporosis. Sugar also depletes the body of potassium and magnesium, which are required for proper cardiac function, and is therefore a major factor in heart disease.

It compromises the body’s immunes system and stresses the pancreas by forcing it to produce a rush of digestive enzymes. This can lead to the formation gallstones and diabetes.

It depletes stores of vitamin B, which is our brain food, and can interfere with memory, concentration and other mental functions.

It makes the blood very thick and sticky, inhibiting much of the blood flow into the minute capillaries that supply our skin gums and teeth with vital nutrients. Refined sugar has been shown to increase wrinkles and dry aged skin.

When excess sugar is eaten, it is first stored in the liver. With continued consumption the liver expands like a balloon and begins to function poorly. An improperly functioning liver can quickly lead to high blood pressure, skin disorders and acne to name a few.

In addition, most people consume far more sugar than their bodies can possibly use for energy. When this happens, the liver converts the extra sugar into molecules called triglycerides and stores it as fat, or else produces cholesterol from the by-products of sugar and deposits it in veins and arteries. Sugar is thus a major factor in obesity and arteriosclerosis.

It also negatively effects behavior. Refined sugar consumption has been linked to violent behavior, hypertension, and learning impediments. In one study violence in prisons was remarkably reduced simply by eliminating refined sugar and starch from prison diets. And Singapore in 1991 banned sugary soft drink sales from all schools and youth center's, citing the danger that sugar poses to the mental and physical health of children

Finally refined sugar is an addictive substance. Abruptly giving up sugar often brings on the sort of withdrawal symptoms associated with narcotic drugs- fatigue, lassitude, depression, moodiness, headaches, aching limbs. This happens as the body eliminates the left over toxins from the sugar and begins to bring itself back into balance.

As you can see, putting processed sugar into your body makes no sense at all. It is something like pouring sugar into the gas tank of a million dollar racing car. Only do it if you want to screw up your car/body for some reason.

Fortunately for all of us with a sweet tooth, there are many natural raw sweeteners that are not only harmless to the body, but actually support it. The highest choice is to use 100% unrefined and untreated sweeteners. These are what I use exclusively:

Most of these are available at any health food store. Just make sure to ask if they are minimally processed and raw (meaning unheated).

Whatever you choose, you can be sure of this: eliminating refined sugar from your diet is one of the kindest and most loving things you could ever do for your body. Please pass this information on to anyone in your life who you care about.

Some interesting sugar facts:

Sir Frederick Banting, the co discoverer of insulin, noted in 1929 that among sugar plantation owners who ate large amounts of refined sugar, diabetes was common. Among native cane-cutters, who only chewed the raw cane, he saw no diabetes.

In 1915, the average of sugar consumption was around 7-10 Kg per person per year. Today the average person consumes about 70 kg

In 2002, almost 132 million tons of sugar were consumed worldwide.

Sugar is used in leather tanning, printers' inks and dyes and even in textile sizing and finishing

Film stuntmen use bottles and plate glass windows made of sugar

Chemical manufacturers use sugar to grow penicillin

Sugar hardens asphalt. It slows the setting of ready-mixed concrete and glue.

About 30% of refined sugar comes from sugar beets. The rest comes from sugar cane

One 12 oz. Cola contains 11 teaspoons of sugar.

Sugar was one of the first pharmaceutical ingredients used, as it still is today, to mask the bitter taste of medicines

By Mark Ament

All rights reserved. Any reproducing of this article must have the author name and all the links intact.

Author:Mark Ament

Biography: Mark Ament is the author of several books and programs on natural health.

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